text:
It seemed too perfect, and it was - Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band's knockout halftime performance at last Sunday's Super Bowl. Turns out perfection was easy to come by, as the E Street Band were on tape.
"The Super Bowl performances are all on tape," says Hank Neuberger, a Grammy-winning producer who supervises the broadcast audio for the Grammy Awards.
According to Neuberger, Bruce Springsteen And the E Street Band recorded their instrumental performances in advance. Only The Boss's vocals were live, he says
Recorded tracks are common practice
"There is no way you can set up a full band in five minutes with microphones, get all the settings right, and expect to get quality sound," Neuberger says. "The Super Bowl has been doing that for years with virtually all the bands."
Already this week it was revealed that pre-game singers Faith Hill and Jennifer Hudson sang live to recorded backing tracks, another common practice according to Neuberger. But the news that the famed E Street Band, renowned for putting on thousands of frenzied performances the world over, would resort to using a taped instrumental track is a Super Bowl shocker indeed.
"Too many variables"
Neuberger sees the practice as a necessary evil, however: "There were too many variables keeping the instruments in tune while playing outside in cold weather," he says. "You can't control the environment, so the smart decision is to record the performance and play along with it.
"Television and music are not always a happy marriage. It's hard to present music of the highest quality on television, and you want the audience to hear an artist at their best."
Perhaps, but knowing this, we at MusicRadar would gladly trade 'best' for 'live' any day. After all, the football players don't get to pre-record their passes. That's what makes a game exciting - and real. Same goes for musical performances. Mistakes? Out-of-tune guitars? Who cares? That's what makes it rock 'n' roll!
Via Chicago Tribune


text:
Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/61416?hl=en
Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
Microsoft Edge: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy
Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
Opera: http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/privacy/
Safari: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19214?locale=cs_CZ&viewlocale=en_US
You have the following rights under data protection laws:
If you have any enquiries relating to this statement, our handing of your personal information generally or in relation your data protection rights, you can contact Michael Moore Athlone using the following information:
In connection with the exercise of your rights, we may charge a reasonable fee taking into account the administrative costs for processing requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive.
For questions regarding this policy or the protection of your personal information generally, you can contact the Privacy Team.
If you disagree with the way we process or handle your personal information you have the right to lodge a complaint with our Privacy Team or our supervisory authority.
Data Protection Commissioner
Canal House Station Road Portarlington R32 AP23 Co. Laois
Telephone: +353 (0)761 104 8000
Telephone: +353 (0)57 868 4800
Email: email@example.com
LoCall Number: 1890 252 231

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This is something that both Paul and I want to research more but, there have been a lot of questions about this recently. So, I thought I'd pull together a quick post of some important resources if you're interested in virtualization.
1) You should know what the support implications are – Bob Ward (Microsoft PSS Principal Escalation Engineer extraordinaire) – has blogged about the support implications here: SQL Server Support in a Hardware Virtualization Environment
2) You should know some of the best practices in configuration and setup – and the SQL team (specifically the SQLCAT team) has just recently released a whitepaper: Running SQL Server 2008 in a Hyper-V Environment – Best Practices and Performance Recommendations.
3) Finally, here are a few additional – and helpful resources:
SQL Server's virtualization section on microsoft.com: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/virtualization.aspx which has a lot of links/resources/references.
If you're a SQL Server Magazine subscriber, check out Demystifying SQL Server Virtualization by Mike Otey in the the September 2008 edition of SQL Server Magazine
Have fun and post back with any issues on virtualization that you've run into!


text:
The Conjuring (2013)
Directed by James Wan / Tony DeRosa-Grund / Peter Safran
Genres - Horror, Thriller |
Sub-Genres - Haunted House Film, Supernatural Horror |
Release Date - Jul 19, 2013 (USA) |
Run Time - 110 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - R
Share on
Synopsis by Jason Buchanan
A demonic entity lays claim to family living in a secluded farmhouse, prompting them to seek the aid of two renowned paranormal researchers in this tale of possession inspired by actual events. The story gets underway as paranormal researchers Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) evaluate a mysterious doll discovered by a trio of young roommates in 1968. Believing their house to be haunted by the wayward spirit of a deceased young girl, they give the girl permission to inhabit the doll, and soon their lives become a waking nightmare. Informed by Ed and Lorraine that they have fallen victim to an inhuman spirit (aka a demon) seeking a human host, the roommates entrust the doll to the Warrens, who place it in their personal museum for safekeeping. Flash forward three years to Harrisville, RI, where the Perron family have just moved into their country dream home -- an 18th century farmhouse that offers plenty of space for parents Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger (Ron Livingston), as well as their five daughters Andrea (Shanley Caswell), Nancy (Hayley McFarland), Christine (Joey King), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy), and April (Kyla Deaver). It seems like the ideal place to raise a family until a series of unsettling events leave the Perron family convinced they are not alone. Terrified, Carolyn reaches out to the Warrens for help, and learns that a demonic entity has attached itself to her family, and has no intentions of letting them go. Meanwhile, the deeper the Warrens delve into the farmhouse's history, the clearer it becomes that this spirit has a murderous agenda, and that no one will be safe until it is driven back into darkness.
demon, demonic-possession, exorcism, family, farmhouse, haunted, medium [psychic], murder, paranormal, Satanism, witch, investigator


text:
I bought open air filters. when I removed and opened the old air filter I found some turds in there...
my carburettors tried to eat the old filter with success.
You can imagine that my engine feels a lot better now.
It's much faster and it totally changed the character of the motor..
still have to clean the carburettors


text:
General Relativity and Cosmology
Module PH2043
Module version of WS 2018/9
There are historic module descriptions of this module. A module description is valid until replaced by a newer one.
Whether the module's courses are offered during a specific semester is listed in the section Courses, Learning and Teaching Methods and Literature below.
available module versions | ||||||
Basic Information
PH2043 is a semester module in English or German language at Master's level which is offered in winter semester.
This Module is included in the following catalogues within the study programs in physics.
- Specific catalogue of special courses for nuclear, particle, and astrophysics
- Complementary catalogue of special courses for condensed matter physics
- Complementary catalogue of special courses for Biophysics
- Complementary catalogue of special courses for Applied and Engineering Physics
- Specialization Modules in Elite-Master Program Theoretical and Mathematical Physics (TMP)
If not stated otherwise for export to a non-physics program the student workload is given in the following table.
Total workload | Contact hours | Credits (ECTS) |
300 h | 90 h | 10 CP |
Responsible coordinator of the module PH2043 in the version of WS 2018/9 was Martin Beneke.
Content, Learning Outcome and Preconditions
- Introduction to the concepts of relativity and covariance
- The equivalence principle. Gravitation. The Einstein's equation. Newtonian limit.
- The Schwartzschild Metric. Black holes.
- The weak field approximation. Gravitational waves.
- Cosmology: Homogeneity and isotropy, Robertson-Walker metric.
- Friedmann Equation. Hubble parameter. The expanding Universe.
- The Early Universe
Learning Outcome
After participation in the Module the student is able to:
- Understand the origin of gravity as the effect of the curvature of spacetime.
- Describe the classical experimental tests of general relativity: the deflection of light, the precession of perihelia and gravitational redshift.
- Understand the basic physics of black holes.
- Understand the basic properties of gravitational waves.
- Describe the different stages of the expanding Universe and derive the Hubble's law.
- Uniderstand particle physics in the early, hot Universe
No prior knowledge necessary, beyond the admission requirements for the master's degree.
Courses, Learning and Teaching Methods and Literature
Courses and Schedule
Type | SWS | Title | Lecturer(s) | Dates | Links |
VO | 4 | General Relativity and Cosmology | Ibarra, A. |
Mon, 08:00–10:00, PH HS2 Wed, 10:00–12:00, PH HS2 |
eLearning current |
UE | 2 | Exercise to General Relativity and Cosmology |
Responsible/Coordination: Ibarra, A. |
dates in groups |
Learning and Teaching Methods
This module consists of a lecture and an exercise course.
The lecture is designed for the presentation of the subject, usually by blackboard presentation. The focus resides on theoretical foundations of the field, presentation of methods and simple, illustrative examples. Command of basic methods is deepened and practised through homework problems, which cover important aspects of the field.
In the exercise course the learning content is deepened and exercised using problem examples, developing the analytic skills of the students and their ability to perform calculations. The homework problems are discussed in the exercise by the students themselves under the supervision of a tutor in order to develop the skills to explain a physics problem logically.
Lecture, blackboard, problem sets, presentation, homework problems and their discussion in tutorial groups, web page http://users.ph.tum.de/ga49yar/19ws-art/
- S. Caroll: Spacetime and Geometry, Pearson, (2013)
- S. Weinberg: Gravitation and Cosmology, Wiley, (1972)
- E.W. Kolb & M.S. Turner: The Early Universe, Westview Press, (1994)
Module Exam
Description of exams and course work
There will be a written exam of 180 minutes duration. Therein the achievement of the competencies given in section learning outcome is tested exemplarily at least to the given cognition level using calculation problems and comprehension questions.
For example an assignment in the exam might be:
- Calculate the motion of a test particle in curved space-time.
- Derive some of the most important known solutions to the Einstein field equations.
- Compute the emission of gravitational waves of a given source.
Participation in the tutorials is strongly recommended since the exercises prepare for the problems of the exam and rehearse the specific competencies.
There will be a bonus (one intermediate stepping of "0,3" to the better grade) on passed module exams (4,3 is not upgraded to 4,0). The bonus is applicable to the exam period directly following the lecture period (not to the exam repetition) and subject to the condition that the student passes the mid-term. The latter is considered passed if 50% of the points in the homework problems have been achieved.
Exam Repetition
The exam may be repeated at the end of the semester.
Current exam dates
Currently TUMonline lists the following exam dates. In addition to the general information above please refer to the current information given during the course.
Title | |||
Time | Location | Info | Registration |
Exam to General Relativity and Cosmology | |||
Mon, 2024-03-25, 11:00 till 14:00 | 2502 2502 |
till 2024-03-21 |


text:
- Accelerates operator return on investment via unified caching technology
- Reduces operator operations cost by integrating Akamai caching technology, initially within SSR 8000 fixed and mobile routing gateways and subsequently in the RAN infrastructure
- Increases operator CDN reach federating with partner operators and with the global Akamai Intelligent Platform
As part of the recently announced Network-enabled Cloud concept, Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC, news, filings) today introduces its Smart Cloud Accelerator solution. This new solution complements Ericsson's portfolio of content delivery options consisting of the Mobile Cloud Accelerator (MCA) which allows mobile network operators to deliver content with an improved end-to-end quality of service, and the Media Delivery Network (MDN), an operator Content Delivery Network (CDN) optimized for video delivery.
Rapidly growing demand for over-the-top content continues to drive high usage in both fixed and mobile networks. In response, operators want to reduce the cost of transport and increase Internet application responsiveness, thereby increasing user satisfaction and revenue.
The new operator CDN solution accelerates return on investment via unified caching technology. It optimizes over-the-top traffic and monetizes cloud content for operators, adding Akamai capabilities to Ericsson's SSR 8000 family of routing gateways.
Ericsson will use unified caching technology from Akamai to provide for dynamic capacity sharing between operators and their CDN customers, as well as over-the-top Internet traffic.
The solution will allow operators to manage and deliver both their own content and that provided by third parties. In addition, these new CDN offerings will enable operators to save on expensive aggregation, core, and peering/transit costs.
Integration within the operator network policy infrastructure provides fine-grained control of resource allocation and quality of experience, thereby enabling operators to provide attractive offerings to a variety of content providers.
Operators can maximize the use of their CDN investment by initially optimizing over-the-top traffic and gradually reallocating resources to value-added content as they build up their customer portfolio
Ericsson's Network-enabled Cloud meets needs of the Networked Society
Ericsson Mobile Cloud Accelerator (MCA)
Ericsson Media Delivery Network (MDN)
Our multimedia content is available at the broadcast room: www.ericsson.com/broadcast_room
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.
Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today more than 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers' networks servicing more than 2 billion subscribers.
We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000 people. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011 the company had revenues of SEK 226,9 billion (USD 35,0 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.
Ericsson Corporate Public & Media Relations
Phone: +46 10 719 69 92
E-mail: email@example.com
Ericsson Investor Relations
Phone: +46 10 719 00 00
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date


text:
Homo habilis hacked from the family tree
New hominid fossils have 'completely changed the story' of human evolution
The cover of a recent issue of the journal Nature featured a photograph of two human-like skull caps, the smallest of which has upset the human evolution applecart. This skull is being hailed as the first female specimen of a Homo erectus cranium. Its small size (compared to other H. erectus skulls) is claimed as evidence that it was an ancestor species with much greater behavioural similarity to today's great apes than was thought.1
The same paper reports on a partial jawbone, assigned to Homo habilis, which the authors claim 'reliably demonstrates that this species survived until later than previously recognized … ' upsetting the human evolution story still further. While many evolutionists have long argued that H. habilis (sometimes dubbed 'handy man') evolved into H. erectus, this international team of palaeoanthropology experts is now saying that the two species lived side by side with one another for half a million years! The discoverer of the fossils, Frederick Manthi (of the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi) reportedly said: 'Homo habilis never gave rise to Homo erectus. These discoveries have completely changed the story.'2
The most common 'neat' story of human evolution has australopithecines (such as 'Lucy') evolving into Homo habilis, which evolves into Homo erectus, which evolves into Homo sapiens. Australopithecines have no clear connection to humans, but museums, popular articles and text-books for schools and universities commonly claimed that Homo habilis linked them with humans (Homo erectus and Homo sapiens). While one camp of paleontologists argued that Homo habilis was not a valid taxon, being a waste bin of mixed ape and human fossil bits, other evolutionists clung to H. habilis as being valid. Now even those who still claim it was valid are putting it aside. That effectively leaves a gaping hole in the story of human evolution, with nothing left to link humans with apes.
Of course, this all goes to reinforce the point made in many previous articles on this website:3 there are plenty of fossils, but the fossil evidence used to support human evolution from ape-like ancestors is so sparse that any new scrap of bone has the potential to force a rewrite of the secular history-tale. Accordingly, one commentary on the new paper states, 'Exciting new Kenyan fossils challenge established views on early evolution of our genus Homo.'4 That said, what other lessons can be learned from this latest report?
Certainly, it is pertinent to highlight the assumptions involved in all evolutionary reconstructions of the vanished past, chief of which is that humans and apes allegedly have sprung from a common ancestral lineage. Researchers constrained by this evolutionary belief are bound to view the fossils as fitting somewhere on a long-ages continuum between supposedly 'primitive' ape-like creatures and 'modern' humans. For instance, H. habilis has long been seen by many (though not all) palaeoanthropologists as a bridge species between the clearly ape-like australopithecines (such as the famous 'Lucy') and the human-like H. erectus. The latter fossils are considered by most creationist experts to represent the remains of fully human descendants of Adam.5
Within the evolution camp, the paucity of evidence leaves plenty of room for disagreement. So, while some have argued that H. habilis is really a taxonomic waste bin which should be discarded (containing a mixed bag of fossils from both Australopithecus and Homo6 ), others have clung to it as the only—albeit tenuous—link between extinct apes and humans. Creationists such as Lubenow have also argued that H. habilis is an invalid category.7
Spoor F. et al., Nature 448, 689 (2007)
The new fossil find comprises a skull, attributed to Homo erectus (top and left), and a fragment of upper jaw (lower right), attributed to Homo habilis. The fossil evidence for H. habilis remains fragmentary and scant.
This new paper—by a list of authors including leading lights such as Fred Spoor and Meave Leakey—represents a divergent opinion: the authors accept that H. habilis was a real creature in history but relegate it to a mere side-shoot off the main branch that led to ourselves—that is, it is not our ancestor. In support of this view, the authors report that the H. habilis maxilla8 was 'dated' at 1.44 million years old which is younger on the evolutionary timescale than the H. erectus skull ('dated' at 1.55 million years). Thus, whether H. habilis is seen as a junk category or a contemporary of H. erectus, the outcome is the same: the evolution of australopithecine apes into humans is an article of faith, unsupported by any fossil evidence—just speculation that an unseen common ancestor of these two 'sister species' lived in this part of Africa some two to three million years ago. Interestingly, well before this latest publication, creationist Lubenow had already pointed out the contemporaneousness of H. erectus and H. habilis, based on the evolutionists' dating of existing fossils:
'On the far end of the Homo erectus time continuum, Homo erectus is contemporary with Homo habilis for 500,000 years. In fact, Homo erectus overlaps the entire Homo habilis population … '9
It's good to see the evolutionists catching up with their own reality.
The new report should prompt another salutary reminder, repeated many times over during the dubious history of palaeoanthropology: 'Wait and see!' Doubtless there will be responses to these new ideas from other experts who interpret the skull and jawbone evidence very differently. For instance, it seems very premature for these scientists to be confidently challenging the current wisdom on the behaviour of H. erectus based on the discovery of what they claim is the first female skull of this species.
Firstly, it is very likely that other researchers will challenge the assigned gender of the individual to whom this skull belonged—this happened most recently with Homo floresiensis, aka the 'hobbit'.10 Not only do the authors claim (on the basis of a single specimen11 ) that this demonstrates pronounced sexual dimorphism12 within H. erectus, they offer the baseless speculation that, since male apes are distinctly larger than females and mate with multiple females, H. erectus likely was sexually promiscuous (rather than monogamous)!
Secondly, we are all familiar with the wide range of variation in size and shape of skeletal and cranial features among people in the human population today—this is blindingly obvious from even the most cursory observation of a crowd of people from any cosmopolitan city. Human skull capacity is reported to show a 700 to 2,200 cm3 variation in normal individuals.13 Moreover, consider dwarfism and giantism in human beings, for example the recently reported marriage between a giant 236 cm (7'9") man and his 168 cm (5'6") bride.14 It is small wonder that when evolutionary palaeoanthropologist Owen Lovejoy published his findings of 1,000-year-old native American bones, he concluded that the marked size differences could lead some to conclude that they represented different species or even genera.15 Thus it is extremely premature to claim that the discovery of one small skull points to H. erectus being less human-like than once thought. Indeed, one has to wonder if this story about the H. erectus skull has been included to encourage the faithful that all is not lost; there are still potential candidates to at least partially fill the void left by the exit of H. habilis. That is, this gives breathing space for the acceptance of the demise of Homo habilis.
It is likely that those who follow the 'progressive creationist' model of Hugh Ross and his associates will seize on this new interpretation as evidence for their contention that H. erectus represented a pre-Adamic soul-less race of man-like creatures, unrelated to Adam.16 Yet to do so, they must continue to ignore the wealth of evidence to the contrary—not least the continuity of erectus-like features up to the present day (seen in certain people) and the fact that evolutionists' dates for a number of H. erectus skulls mean that they were also contemporary with 'modern' humans.17
This new paper strengthens the view that there are fossils of apes (including extinct varieties) and fossils of humans but nothing in between, just as a straightforward reading of Genesis implies: 'So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.'18 'Handy man' has now been irrevocably removed from any place in the evolutionary human lineage (whichever 'camp' of evolutionists one looks to). As for the controversial claims concerning sexual dimorphism in Homo erectus, 'watch and wait' would seem to be wise counsel.
References and notes
- Spoor, F. et al., Implications of new early Homo fossils from Ileret, east of Lake Turkana, Kenya, Nature 448:688-691, 9 August 2007. Return to Text.
- Cocks, T., Ancient human fossils show women much smaller, Reuters.com, 25 August, 2007, <www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL0980963720070809>, last accessed 25 August, 2007. Return to Text.
- Anthropology (human ancestry, alleged ape-men) Q&A Return to Text.
- See <www.physorg.com/news105799913.html>, last accessed 25 August, 2007. Return to Text.
- Lubenow, M., Bones of contention: A creationist assessment of human fossils, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, pp. 115-134, 2004. Return to Text.
- Line, P., Fossil evidence for alleged apemen—Part 1: the genus Homo, Journal of Creation 19(1):22-32, 2005. Return to Text.
- Ref. 5, pp. 298–301. Return to Text.
- The technical name for the upper jawbone. Return to Text.
- Ref. 5, p. 119. Return to Text.
- Jacob, T., RI scientists refute Flores Man finding, Jakarta Post, 8 November, 2004. Dr Teuku Jacob is Professor of Anthropology at an Indonesian university—he disputed the initial publication of the 'hobbit' fossils on many points, even discounting that this was a separate species of human being. See also: Hobbling the Hobbit?. Return to Text.
- The smallest Homo erectus skull found anywhere according to contributing author, Fred Spoor, see Ref. 4. Return to Text.
- That is, a distinct size difference between males and females. Return to Text.
- Molnar, S., Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups, Prentice-Hall Inc., NJ, p. 57, 1975; as cited in Ref. 5. Return to Text.
- World's tallest man marries, Daily Telegraph, 13 July, 2007; <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/12/wtall112.xml >, last accessed 25 August, 2007. Return to Text.
- Reader, John, Missing Links, p. 232, Collins, 1981. Return to Text.
- Ross, H., The Genesis Question, NavPress, Colorado, p. 55, 1998. Read a refutation of pre-Adamite man: Grigg, R., Pre-Adamic man: were there human beings on Earth before Adam? Creation 24(4):42–45, 2002. Return to Text.
- Ref. 5, pp. 337, 348–351. Return to Text.
- Genesis 1:27; confirmed by 1 Corinthians 15:45 and Genesis 3:20. Return to Text.


text:
My cominister Rev. Meredith Garmon delivered this sermon on September 27, 2009 at the Unitarian Univeralist Fellowship of Gainesville (audio below for listening or for downloading. Written manuscript available upon request or for UUFG members on the website: UUFG). I followed his sermon with some spontaneous comments; the written excerpt follows below.
For me the "downside of spirituality" is that our various practices often do not tell us how to deal with the pain, hurt, and suffering that exists in the world. If spirituality means we are to open our hearts and minds to all that is, this means that we must make meaning not just of beauty, but of tragedy, and the tragic choices each of us makes, or that our communties and species makes. How do we do this?
I got a glimpse how one person answers this this past weekend. I had the honor to officiate a godparenting ceremony outdoors at Payne's Prairie State Park. Before the ceremony began a park ranger walked up with a whip on his belt, "to control gators" he replied when asked about it's function. He watched the ceremony and at the end he said:
"I don't know if your bible is my bible. But my bible says 'to walk circumspectly.' Out here at night walking around under the stars you never know what is around the corner - lizards, snakes, gators, bison, horses, feral pigs. There is much that can harm you and you've got to be careful. I mean, I don't think we can stop what's coming, the bad stuff, but we can walk carefully to ward off some of it. And as we go, we walk under those beautiful stars."
So maybe spirituality helps us walk open to beauty and to tragedy, and my guess is that there is so much beauty that it might just be harder to make meaning of the incredible beauty than the immense tragedy."
How do you hold the pain?
Is it worth trying to grow your awareness of interconnection, to both beauty and tragedy when you can't stop the tragedy?
How can you grow your sense of interconnection and meaning with others?
Download Downside of Spirituality
(Payne's Prairie)


text:
By HarlemGal
Have no clue how to celebrate Oktoberfest in Harlem? Look to Harlem Park to Park to assist. They offer plenty of options starting tomorrow (October 1)! Harlem Park to Park Initiative is a merchants association formed in 2009 to encourage and sustain commerce throughout the upper part of Manhattan, known as Harlem.
From October 1 to October 31 it is Restaurant and Retail Month where participating restaurants will offer three course prix fixe menus. Local shops that are participating in Oktoberfest in Harlem will offer select retail items for $20.10. Harlem Park to Park is co-hosting the Harlem Harvest Festival October 9 at St. Nicholas Avenue and 116th Street. And on October 28th end the fest with a Harlem Restaurant and Bar Crawl along 8th Avenue, i.e. Frederick Douglass Blvd.
So there are plenty of options to celebrate Oktoberfest in Harlem. I definitely plan to partake in one or more of these events. Hope to see you around!


text:
Start 'Em & Sit 'Em is the ultimate look at the weekly NFL matchups and how they'll affect your fantasy football team. Sleeper alert features an under-the-radar player who could produce good numbers. Owners beware features a regular fantasy starter who could fail to meet expectations based on the strength of his opponent. Obvious fantasy starters like Aaron Rodgers and Arian Foster will not be featured in this column. For your final lineup decisions, check our lineup rankings.
Start of the week
Randall Cobb at New York Giants: Believe it or not, but Cobb is the highest-scoring wide receiver in Green Bay based on fantasy points right now. He's also in the top 10 at the position with more points than Andre Johnson, Percy Harvin and Wes Welker. He needs to remain in fantasy lineups against the Giants, who have given up more fantasy points to wideouts at home than any other team in the NFL.
Start 'em
Reggie Wayne vs. Buffalo Bills: Wayne, who has had a rebirth with Andrew Luck under center, has put up an average of over 16 fantasy points in his last three home games. His statistical success should continue against the Bills, who have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers on the road (24.45 PPG) in 2012. Wayne needs to be active in all leagues, especially those PPR formats.
Hakeem Nicks vs. Green Bay Packers: Nicks has been a huge disappointment this season due to a combination of injuries and sagging stats. He's told the media that he's healthier than his been as year, though, and he dominated the Packers last season with a combined 14 catches, 253 yards and four touchdowns in two meetings. Even if he's just your third wideout, Nicks should be active on your fantasy team.
Steve Johnson at Indianapolis Colts: Johnson hasn't been a great option in standard leagues, but he has scored 13-plus fantasy points in four of his last five games in PPR formats. So if you get points for catches, the veteran remains a nice option against the Colts. Their defense has given up the fifth-most fantasy points to wide receivers, allowing an average of 26.80 points to the position overall.
Sleeper alert - Michael Crabtree at New Orleans Saints: Crabtree has been a bit more reliable in recent weeks, scoring double-digit fantasy points in two of his last three games as defenses continue to focus on Vernon Davis. The veteran will serve as a nice No. 3 fantasy option against the Saints, who have given up more fantasy points to wide receivers overall (29.72 PPG) than any other NFL defense.
Sit of the week
Mike Wallace at Cleveland Browns: First it was Ben Roethlisberger. Then it was Byron Leftwich. Both were injured in recent weeks, leaving the Steelers to give the reins of their offense to Charlie Batch. That's bad news for Wallace, who hasn't been all the great this season regardless. If CB Joe Haden returns to action, Wallace is all of the sudden an even riskier option for fantasy owners this week.
Sit 'em
DeSean Jackson vs. Carolina Panthers (Mon.): I would like Jackson a touch more if Michael Vick were to return on Monday night, but Jackson remains a gamble overall. He's scored more than seven fantasy points just once in his last six games, and this week's matchup against the Panthers is a tough one. Their defense has allowed the eighth-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers on the road (18.33 PPG).
Mike Williams vs. Atlanta Falcons: Is Williams' run as a solid No. 3 fantasy wideout all but over? He's failed to score seven fantasy points in each of his last two games and three of his last five overall. The Syracuse product also has a tough matchup against the Falcons, who have given up the fewest fantasy points to opposing wideouts on the road (15.48 PPG) of any team in the entire league.
Malcom Floyd vs. Baltimore Ravens: Floyd had put up consecutive double-digit games before last week, when he had just 6.70 fantasy points in a loss to the Denver Broncos. He has a tough matchup coming up against the Ravens, who have given up the third-fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers on the road (15.60 PPG). Floyd is also losing more targets to Danario Alexander in recent weeks.
Owners beware - Torrey Smith at San Diego Chargers: Remember what I said about Joe Flacco in the sit 'em portion of the quarterbacks? Well, Smith is directly connected to his quarterback. In five road games, the wideout has one touchdown and is averaging a mere 4.86 fantasy points per game. So while the Chargers don't have the best pass defense, this trend makes it tough to start Smith with confidence.
Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on NFL.com. Have a burning question on anything fantasy related? Tweet it to _**@MichaelFabiano**_ or send a question via **Facebook**!


text:
Biblical Eschatology and the Good News of Christmas
Along with festive celebrations and traditions, Christmastime also brings with it a more serious focus on hope. Charities and ministries strive to uplift those who are struggling to make ends meet and the message of peace on earth is prevalent. In a secular context, Santa Claus often embodies hope for a better, more caring world. But when all is said and done, it's a different Christmas figure who offers real and true hope for humanity.
One motivation for writing my latest book, Christian Endgame, was a desire to not only offer a different way of thinking about the Bible's teaching on future things, but to also to help Christians understand what the future aspects of the faith mean for believers—and for those who are searching for hope.
As the saying goes, humans can live for a short time without water and food—but they cannot survive without hope. The longer a person lives, the more this statement appears to be true. People have an innate need to know that their lives have meaning, significance, and value. To face life's many challenges, a person must believe there is an overarching good and true purpose beyond this existence. Genuine hope can serve as an anchor when everything seems to fall apart. But the absence of hope destroys the quality of a person's life and inevitably leads to sorrow and despair.
The good news that starts at Christmas and culminates with Easter is that Jesus Christ is hope incarnate. His incomparable life in this time-space world testifies to the goodness and value of being made in the image of God. Christ's atoning death on the cross of Calvary instills confidence to believe that God loves sinners and has indeed forgiven the sin that weighs on the human conscience. Jesus' amazing bodily Resurrection from the grave gives assurance that not even physical death can crush a living hope in God.
Jesus Christ has already inaugurated his kingdom and believers are the fortunate beneficiaries of his saving grace. Therefore, the promises of his Second Coming should buttress hope by reminding believers that God will bring forth the consummation of his sovereign and glorious kingdom at the right time. Living hope will one day give way to God's eternal kingdom.
Plus, not only has the Resurrection assured believers that physical death is not the end of personal existence, but biblical eschatology also assures Christ's followers that loved ones who have died in the Lord are now in the presence of Jesus Christ. At the glorious Second Coming of Christ he will resurrect believers' physical bodies and bring them back with him to this earth (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). So, rather than contributing to anxiety, biblical eschatology is intended to provide peace and comfort to God's people even in the wake of death itself.
Reflection on Christian eschatological truths should motivate believers to action in the here and now. Knowing that one will leave this temporal world to dwell in God's eternal consummated kingdom should encourage distinctively purposeful living, which is focused on eternity. This includes sharing the gospel message with those who need to hear the good news of Christmas—that there is "bright hope for tomorrow" because of Jesus Christ.
To find out how you can receive a copy of my book Christian Endgame for a donation in any amount to RTB now through December 31, visit https://www.reasons.org/donate/donations.


text:
John Dear
John Dear is an internationally recognized voice for peace and nonviolence. A Jesuit priest, pastor, activist, and author, he travels the world teaching active nonviolence in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day. He served for years as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the US. After September 11, 2001, he was a Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at the Family Assistance Center in New York, and counseled thousands of relatives and rescue workers. John has traveled the war zones of the world, been arrested some 75 times for peace, led Nobel Peace prize winners to Iraq, given thousands of lectures on peace across the U.S., and served as a pastor of several churches in New Mexico. In 2008, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, along with others, nominated John Dear for the Nobel Peace Prize. John's 30 books include: The God of Peace; Transfiguration; Lazarus, Come Forth!; You Will Be My Witnesses; Living Peace; The Questions of Jesus; Put Down Your Sword; Jesus the Rebel; Peace Behind Bars;Disarming the Heart, and his autobiography, A Persistent Peace. He is featured in the DVD film, The Narrow Path. He writes regularly for the National Catholic Reporter. For further information, or to schedule a lecture or retreat, visit: www.johndear.org.


text:
Is there such an algorithm that would allow to upgrade the encryption of an RSA-encrypted message without revealing the plaintext to the untrusted user?
Basically, such an algorithm would probably be split in two parts.
- The algorithm would take the old private key and the new public key and generate a sort of intermediate key.
- The key would then be distributed to untrusted parties who could upgrade their encrypted messages to the new keypair using the intermediate key and (maybe) the new public key.
Neither the old private key nor the new private key should not be easily recoverable (computationaly infeasible) from the intermediate key, so untrusted parties wouldn't be able to recover the plaintext.
Now I suppose that such a scheme does not exist, because I don't see a real use case for it, but it would be interesting to know if such a thing can be done.


text:
Noam Chomsky on Free TradePolitical Activist | |
The attraction of NAFTA for North American elites, the business press reported, was "precisely that it would tie the hands of the current future governments" of Mexico with regard to the economic policy. In brief, NAFTA, duly imposed by executive power, in opposition to the public will.
The "dominant theory" is that of the rich and powerful, who have regularly advocated liberalization for others, and sometimes for themselves as well, once they have achieved a dominant position and hence are willing to face competition on a "level playing field"--that is, one sharply tilted in their favor. The stand is sometimes called "kicking away the ladder" by economic historians: first we violate the rules to climb to the top, then we kick way the ladder so that you cannot follow us, and we righteously proclaim: "Let's play fair, on a level playing field."
A: It is certainly possible, for the worldwide protests against corporate globalization, which--again--did not begin in Seattle. Such terrorist atrocities are a gift to the harshest and most repressive elements on all sides, and are sure to be exploited--already have been in fact--to accelerate the agenda of militarization, regimentation, reversal of social democratic programs, transfer of wealth to narrow sectors, and undermining democracy in any meaningful form. But that will not happen without resistance, and I doubt that it will succeed, except in the short term.
A: This is an extremely convenient belief for Western intellectuals. It absolves them of responsibility for the actions that actually do lie behind the choice of the World Trade Center. Was it bombed in 1993 because of concern over globalization and cultural hegemony? Was Sadat assassinated 20 years ago because of globalization?
A few days ago the "Wall Street Journal" reported attitudes of rich and privileged Egyptians who were bitterly critical of the US for objective reasons of policy, which are well-known to those who wish to know. Is that concern over "globalization," McDonald's, and jeans? Attitudes in the street are similar, but far more intense, and have nothing at all to do with these fashionable excuses. These excuses are convenient. Bin Laden himself has probably never even heard of "globalization."
The second major competitive bloc is based in Europe and is dominated by Germany. It�s taking a big step forward with the consolidation of the European Common Market.
The third bloc is the US-dominated, dollar-based one. It was recently extended to incorporate Canada, our major trading partner, and will soon include Mexico and other parts of the hemisphere, by �free trade agreements� designed primarily for the interests of US investors and their associates. We�ve always assumed that Latin America belongs to us by right.
The government has the public pay for research and development and provides a state-guaranteed market for waste production. If something is marketable, the private sector takes it over. That system of public subsidy and private profit is what is called free enterprise.


text:
March Beef Export Results Mixed; Pork Exports Trend Lower
US - March pork exports declined 18 percent from a year ago in both volume (163,004 mt) and value ($469.5 million), hampered by a beta agonist-related market closure in Russia, larger domestic supplies in China and South Korea and weakened demand in top markets Japan and Mexico.March exports of US beef were down in volume from a year ago but edged slightly higher in value, while pork exports slumped on lower results in several mainstay markets. According to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF), March beef export volume of 83,612 metric tons (mt) was down 7 per cent from a year ago but export value ($440.7 million) was slightly higher. Beef exports finished the first quarter 4 per cent lower in volume (256,587 mt) but 5 per cent ahead of last year's record pace in value ($1.3 billion).
For the first quarter, pork exports fell 12 per cent below last year's record pace in volume (528,195 mt) and 11 per cent in value ($1.49 billion).
"We are definitely facing a challenging environment in several of our leading markets," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. "Some of these trends are anticipated, such as the lower demand for exports where domestic production is up and inventories are plentiful. But the trade impasse with Russia is very frustrating because we have lost access to a market where demand for our product is extremely strong. In other destinations we have seen the overall demand for high-quality proteins become sluggish, and USMEF is very focused on reversing this trend."
March beef exports equated to 9 per cent of US muscle cut production and 12 per cent when adding variety meat – ratios consistent with a year ago. Export value equated to $222.20 per head of fed slaughter, up from 9 per cent in March 2012. First quarter export value was $221, also an increase of 9 per cent.
Pork exports accounted for 20 per cent of muscle cut production in March and 23.4 per cent including variety meat. This is down from 24 per cent and 27.8 per cent, respectively, in March 2012. March export value equated to $50.38 per head, down from $59.92 in March 2012. First-quarter export value averaged $53.38 per head, down 10 per cent from a year ago.
Expanded access boosts beef exports to Japan, Hong Kong
Beef exports to Japan received an excellent bounce from aggressive promotional campaigns designed to capitalize on the recently expanded market access. March volume (18,565 mt) was nearly 80 per cent higher than a year ago and value was up 62 per cent to $114.2 million. This pushed first-quarter exports to Japan 30 per cent higher in both volume (38,483 mt) and value ($252.1 million).
Japan ranks second in beef export value to Canada, where US exports also posted an outstanding first quarter. Export volume to Canada increased 20 per cent to 44,305 mt while value was up 32 per cent to $284.2 million. This made Canada the leading volume and value destination for US beef.
Beef exports to Hong Kong more than doubled in volume in the first quarter to 22,217 mt, while value increased 93 per cent to 123.4 million. Market access was also expanded in Hong Kong in late February, when the market began accepting bone-in cuts from US cattle less than 30 months of age and boneless cuts from cattle of all ages.
Another bright spot for the US beef industry has been the steady recovery of exports to Taiwan, which slumped in late 2011 and much of 2012 due to controversy over Taiwan's beta agonist policy. With more workable regulations now in place, exports to Taiwan posted their best-ever first-quarter performance with volume increasing 56 per cent to 8,669 mt and value up 88 per cent to $66.1 million.
Beef exports to the Middle East also recorded the best first quarter ever in terms of volume, increasing 10 per cent to 39,018 mt. Export value ($75.7 million) slipped 4 per cent due in part to the continued lack of access to Saudi Arabia, which closed to US beef following the April 2012 BSE case.
As mentioned previously, red meat trade with Russia has been effectively shut down since early February. First quarter beef exports were down 87 per cent in volume (1,858 mt) and 96 per cent in value ($2.3 million). Exports to former No. 1 market Mexico continue to struggle, with first-quarter results down 27 per cent in volume (40,668 mt) and 29 per cent in value ($177.1 million). Mexico now ranks second in export volume to Canada and third in value behind Canada and Japan.
Slowdown in key markets hampers pork exports
Coming off a record year in which pork exports to Japan reached nearly $2 billion and export value to Mexico topped $1.1 billion, demand in both markets has slowed in 2013. Along with the shutdown of the Russian market – ranked No. 6 in export value last year at $281.7 million – this hindered US pork's global performance in the first quarter despite gains in smaller, emerging markets.
Compared to the first quarter of 2012, pork exports to Japan fell 12 per cent in volume (108,313 mt) and 9 per cent in value ($482.5 million), partially as a result of the weaker yen. Exports to Mexico declined 15 per cent in volume (137,506 mt) and 16 per cent in value ($252.8 million).
Exports to Russia were down 62 per cent in both volume (5,646 mt) and value ($17.5 million). Larger exports to neighboring countries, especially Ukraine, helped the overall performance in the Greater Russia region but exports were still down 41 per cent in volume (9,221 mt) and 44 per cent in value ($27.1 million).
Large domestic inventories impacted pork exports to China/Hong Kong (104,109 mt, -10 per cent, valued at $219.5 million, -7 per cent) and South Korea (34,841 mt, -35 per cent, valued at $96.1 million, -38 per cent). China's domestic pork prices recently dropped to the lowest level in more than two years despite a stockpiling program aimed at stabilizing the market. A voluntary herd-culling program initiated by the Korean government in an effort to boost domestic prices has also yielded disappointing results, creating a difficult environment for imported pork from all sources. According to the Global Trade Atlas, Korea's total pork imports fell 27 per cent in volume and 35 per cent in value in the first quarter. Despite the decline in imports from the United States, US market share has increased in 2013.
Pork exports to several Western Hemisphere markets posted positive first-quarter results. Examples include:
- Exports to Canada increased 4 per cent in volume to 58,162 mt and 3 per cent in value to $205.3 million.
- Bolstered by the recently implemented free trade agreement, exports to Colombia jumped 57 per cent in volume to 5,325 mt and 45 per cent in value to $13.7 million. It was the leading volume market in the Central-South America region, where exports increased 16 per cent in volume (23,843 mt) and 12 per cent in value ($59.9 million). Chile was the region's leading value market at $14.1 million (+15 per cent).
- Exports to the Dominican Republic increased 9 per cent in volume to 3,795 mt and 16 per cent in value to $9 million.
Asia's first-quarter bright spot was the ASEAN region, where exports increased 37 per cent in volume to 14,408 mt and 29 per cent in value to $35.5 million. This was driven in large part by outstanding performance in the Philippines, where export volume increased 57 per cent to 11,739 mt, valued at $28.1 million (+44 per cent).
US lamb exports bolstered by strong demand for variety meat
First-quarter lamb exports posted a 16 per cent gain in value ($7.4 million) despite a 5 per cent decline in volume (3,132 mt). Exports to leading market Mexico declined slightly in volume (2,364 mt) but increased 27 per cent in value to $4.1 million. Global exports of lamb variety meat, a key contributor to carcass value, increased 19 per cent in volume (2,161 mt) and 43 per cent in value ($2.9 million).


text:
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Impoverished Californians will soon get free cellphones.
The state Public Utilities Commission has approved a federal cellphone giveaway program designed to help the homeless and other impoverished people connect with family, friends and potential employers.
Assurance Wireless, an arm of Sprint, will organize cellphone distribution. The program should be in place next year.
The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/WaJHNB ) reported that nearly 5 million California residents with annual incomes below $15,000 and those who receive Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, food stamps and other aid will be eligible for the federal "Lifeline" program.
Access to cellphones will help people look for housing, jobs and stay in touch with families, said Joan Burke of Loaves & Fishes, a Sacramento-area homeless services group.
"We often have families coming to Loaves & Fishes or calling us, because they know their relative is out here but they don't have a way to contact them," she told the Bee. "So this is about the best Christmas news we could ever have."
Qualified recipients can expect the program to be worked out and in place early next year, and logistics are still being worked out.
The state has helped poor people with their telephone bills for decades, but the program has only covered landline phones until now. The new program is funded by telephone companies that can recoup part of the money through charges to customers.
California is joining 36 other states with the Lifeline program, which at the end of June had 17.6 million people as clients.
The Federal Communications Commission has been overseeing the program since 2005, and has made rules changes to alleviate fraud and abuse, agency spokesman Mark Wigfield said.
The FCC said efforts to prevent households from getting duplicate benefits saved $33 million last year.


text:
In-Depth tech review on the D200
Darrell Young (DigitalDarrell)
Keywords: nikon, d200, camera, bodies
You've probably been asking yourself recently, "How can I tell if the Nikon D200 digital camera is the one for me?" This technology review attempts to provide you with enough information to make an intelligent purchase decision, by learning in detail about the camera and its systems.
If you've been considering the purchase of the Nikon D200 camera, ask yourself the following searching questions, think about it, and discover your true inclination:
Can I afford the $800 to $1200 USD over the cost of those above cameras?
Is the Nikon D2x professional camera too large and heavy for me to carry around regularly?
Can I afford the $4500 to $5000 USD that the D2x costs?
Would I prefer to have a built-in flash?
Would I prefer to buy a smaller, less costly professional body and spend the difference on better lenses?
Do I need to shoot more than 5-frames per second?
Can I afford a camera that has many of the features of the Nikon D2x for only $1699 USD?
Is this the camera I have really been waiting for to jump into digital photography?
Does the Nikon D200 make my Nikon Acquisition Syndrome (NAS) go into overdrive?
After honestly asking yourself the searching questions above, you may find that, indeed, the Nikon D200 DSLR is the ideal camera. Where else can one find a miniaturized Nikon D2x DSLR at a price more like a top end point & shoot camera? In the next image, please note the comparative sizes of the Nikon D2x, Nikon D200, and Nikon D70. The Nikon D200 camera appears to be only very slightly larger than the Nikon D70s SLR, with many of the features found in the Nikon D2x pro D-SLR. Incredible? ... Yes!
Where the Nikon F5 had its Nikon F100 companion, the Nikon D2x has its Nikon D200. This is Nikon's 11th digital SLR camera with a DX-sized sensor, showing their commitment to the "DX" DSLR. All through the rest of this review, you'll see that I am constantly comparing the D200 to the powerful Nikon D2x, another great Nikon camera with several in-depth reviews at Nikonians. The reason I do this is simple. The Nikon D200 is much closer to a Nikon D2x DSLR in features and power than to a Nikon D70s DSLR. "You would swear it is the little brother to the D2X. Feels much more like an F6, than an F100" said one of our team members. Honestly, I cannot understand how Nikon is able to offer a camera built so well and so powerful, for so little money. I suppose it is because digital technology is finally becoming lower in cost. Soon, digital cameras will cost little more than the film cameras they are replacing.
Basically, this camera was designed for passionate photographers who want to go beyond basic digital photography while using a smaller bodied, professional level camera. It combines brand-new technologies with many of the creative tools in the professional Nikon D2x DSLR. Do you consider yourself a passionate photographer?
Originally written on November 28, 2012
Last updated on December 30, 2020
More articles that might interest you
4 comments
User on March 30, 2015
answered my metering mode questions finally, thanks.
User on January 8, 2015
Nice work Darrell. I own three! It is my go to camera. I am still fine with ten megapixels. ISO reminds of film. Fast lenses mean more to me than they might to those owning newer cameras. I like using a flash as needed too. I like reading your articles and take on my favorite camera. Best regards.
Alan Wong (hyphotographer) on December 27, 2012
I have a D7000 and saw a second hand D200 in a shop. Does it worth having at £200 now in 2012? I am thinking about this because it is a professional camera.


text:
Offering an ideal steadiness between simplicity, attention to details and warm atmospheres, Florim tiles are perfect for tiling the toilet area, on each walls and floors. Handicare has an own brand product series for increased independence, safety and comfort in bathrooms, showers and bathroom areas in personal and public environments in addition to in hospitals. Alternatively, the floor could also be heated, presumably by strategically placing resistive electrical mats beneath ground tile or radiant sizzling water tubing near the underside of the floor floor.
Numerous white with a contact of green, tons of light with a bamboo roman shade: these all work collectively to make a nice, refreshing toilet wherein to clean the break day. Replace your sink and bathtub fixtures with trendy, contemporary and traditional styles in brass, silver and steel for a glance that is completely your own. Offering versatile shapes, sizes and storage solutions, it's time to … Read the rest


text:
New Events Calendar
Thanks to a new addition by Scott, Village Gamer now has a brand new national events calendar – categorized by provinces and territories. This new events calendar is much more functional than the previous event page we used to have – but wait, that's not all.
The new calendar offers three different views – Month, Week or Agenda. Agenda is the default view, which allows visitors to view the entire year's worth of events in one screen, similar to the old Upcoming Events page. While in Agenda view, visitors can opt to have all events expand with more information (as explained below), and events for "Today Only" can also be selected in any view option.
To see events for any given province or the territories – or a selection of areas, visitors can click on the Categories drop-down menu to the upper right of the calendar. Simply click on any of the desired regions to view those events – the calendar view will update as regions are selected or unselected. To disable the filter, click on the X that will appear beside Filter when regions are selected.
On the old calendar, when visitors clicked the linked event names, they were taken to the event's page to get further information, but now with our shiny new calendar, when visitors click the link they get a drop down information window that offers an event description, and if the Read More button is clicked, visitors can get ticket cost, organizer name (when available), venue location with Google maps, dates and times.
The events calendar can also be synced with Outlook by clicking the Subscribe button (or Add To Calendar button, depending on if you're viewing the front page or event info page), or with Google Calendar by clicking the Google Calendar button. An even better feature is the ability to sync the events for chosen calendars, such as just BC events, or BC and Alberta events, for example. As a bonus, whenever the calendar is updated, the new updates are automatically added through the sync download feature.
As always, our readers are welcome to have their interactive digital media events, film festivals, business education, tech-related events or other happenings across Canada that would be of interest to those who work in the technology industry sectors added to the calendar, just drop us a note with a link to the event and if it fits within our mandate, we'll add it to the calendar.


text:
Interview with Red West
Red west may have been one of the best friends he ever had, and Sonny West, because they cared about him, watched over him, trying to keep him alive. Elvis may have been the most beautiful man in the world. His face was carved like a stone, chiseled out of rock, he was just that good looking, and his voice was unbelievable. Waylon Jennings.
In 1955, Red West was the driver for Elvis and band members Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and later D.J. Fontana when they toured the U.S. South performing live concerts as the 'Blue Moon Boys'. In 1960, following Presley's discharge from the United States Army, Red West went to work for Elvis as a bodyguard and became known as one of the media-dubbed Memphis Mafia. When Elvis was making films in the 1960s in Hollywood, Red West appeared in small roles in sixteen of Elvis' films. During this time, West became good friends with actor Nick Adams and his physical abilities got him hired on as a stuntman on Adams' television series, 'The Rebel'. From there, West went on to do more stunt work in film as well as developing a career as an actor in a number of motion pictures and on television. He was often on screen as a henchman in the television series, 'The Wild Wild West'. He was also a stuntman on the series and developed a strong friendship with the star Robert Conrad. He is best remembered as Sgt. Andy Micklin in the 1978 Robert Conrad series 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. In addition, Red West was a talented songwriter who wrote songs that not only Elvis Presley recorded but also were recorded by teen idols Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone and Johnny Rivers.
Interview with Red West
It's said, as legend has it, that you rescued Elvis from being beaten up at Humes High when a group of boys wanted to cut his hair. What's the real story, and was that what happened?
Red West: That is the real story. The story is Elvis was always different. We had crew cuts, wore tee-shirts and blue jeans, Elvis had the long duck-tail, the long sideburns and he wore the loud clothes and naturally he was a target for all the bullies, and one day luckily I walked into the boys' bathroom at Humes High School and 3 guys were going to cut his hair just, you know, to make themselves look big or make them feel big or whatever, and I intervened and stopped it, and I guess that stuck because a couple of years later after Elvis had his first record he came over and asked me if I would like to go with him, I think it was Grenada, Mississippi or somewhere, and I went and I was with him from then on, except for a couple of years in the Marine Corps. Whatever, Elvis and I were great friends. Some things happened that... I want to dwell on the happier times at this get-together because they out-weigh the bad times. We had some good times, some great fun times, and in my opinion there's nobody that will ever compare to Elvis.
He was my good friend and I'll always remember him as that.
It must be very difficult to walk in the shadow of someone that is so loved, so adored, so worshipped.
Was there ever a time when you felt, 'I wish that could've been me', or were you happy to be in the shadow, so to speak?
Red West: I wouldn't trade places with him for the world. Bull. Anybody would... you know, what he had, the adoration and the money. I mean that's what life is about, I imagine everybody here would like to reach that plateau, to have what he had, and to say 'No I wouldn't trade places with him' - that's a hard statement to make. He had it all except he didn't have the privacy he should've had, that's the main thing that happened to Elvis. He was a prisoner of his own career.
Was being a prisoner sort of counteractive to what Elvis could've actually done?
Do you think he was too frightened, or was it instilled in him to be so protected and protective that he dared not go out into the general public?
Red West: No, he tried. Even in where people like Frank Sinatra, many of the stars, Sammy Davis - they could go out and pretty well mingle. They could go down if they wanted to gamble or whatever. People didn't bother them too much. But Elvis tried it - once - and the whole casino... everybody stopped playing and came around just to watch and see what he was doing, and he could not get out and do what most people do, and everything had to be at night. And still, I mean he would rent movies at night because he couldn't go to a regular movie, but still the gate was always crowded with fans and they would follow and they would be at the movie when it was over, and it was constant. We were always trying to find different ways to go places but he didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but he did wish he had a little more privacy.
Elvis signs autographs for fans after leaving the luncheon at the Holiday Inn Rivermont on January 16, 1971
where he was honored by the Jaycees as one of the Outstanding Young Men In America. At his side is bodyguard, Red West.
This photograph appeared on Page One of The Commercial Appeal when Presley died in 1977.
Working in an environment where you're obviously expected to be 'the great protector', were you personally always on edge for something untoward to happen?
Red West: I guess always, because you never knew, even back in the early days we had our problems. Later on it got to be a real problem because the threat became bigger. You know what happened to John Lennon. Well, this could have happened to Elvis much earlier. In fact there were threats. We tried to keep it under wraps because of the people out there, the copycats, that would do it. We were getting threats in the later years, we took them all seriously. Everybody was on edge. In fact, one night in Las Vegas, we got one before he went on stage and even the management said you don't have to go on stage tonight because this looks real, and he said, 'Well, I'm not going to stop a show because of some so-and-so making threats'.
But the lights were up in the audience more, the curtains were closer, my cousin Sonny and I were a lot closer and that was one of the strangest feelings I've ever had because when he did his last song he went down into a very low karate stance to make him like a small target, and Sonny and I came rushing out and stood in front of him, and we're standing there waiting for whatever was coming. That is a strange feeling but that's what we were going through toward the end, so a lot of things were happening that people don't know about.
Were you frightened? Was Elvis frightened?
Red West: Yes, but he did the show. He said I'm not going to be bullied by some idiot like that, you know, and we're watching every move, everything that moved in the audience, and sometimes we over-reacted on other occasions maybe, but I'd rather I over-reacted than not be there on time.
But were you permanently hyped up? Were you always on edge, expecting the worst?
Red West: Always. Always. Especially after these things. We saw what happened to people by not being prepared, or not thinking things could happen, so we were always ready as we could be.
Let's go back to the early days. When did you first talk to Elvis about him being signed up by Col Parker? Were you aware what was going on at that time?
Red West: No, not really. I had nothing to do with that. I was just having a good time and I saw that Colonel Parker had a lot more influence and a lot more experience in that field than the people who handled Elvis before, so things started immediately he went to RCA. He did the Jackie Gleason Show with Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey which made him visible to the world and not just around so I knew that something big was happening but I didn't know it was going to be as big as it became.
Elvis Presley Red West's Wedding to Elvis' Secretary Pat Boyd - July 1, 1961
In the early days, did Elvis Presley mix with lots of other stars, or did he tend to keep apart?
Red West: No, when he was doing the tours with the Browns, Hank Snow and when he did the Louisiana Hayride Johnny Horton, George Jones that's a funny story, before I forget it! Elvis had had 3 hit records. He was doing the Louisiana Hayride and George Jones went on right before him and George Jones, who was probably put up to it by Johnny Horton and the rest of the old-timers, he did all 3 of Elvis' hits. We're standing backstage watching this and George came off, said 'I'm sorry, I haven't had a hit in a long time' and he walked off. Elvis went out and sung 3 gospel songs, came off and said, 'Let's get the hell out of here'. That was funny! Not at the time, but later on we laughed about it.
Elvis obviously worked with these people, but did he socialise with them?
Red West: Oh yeah. We have a picture at home. The Browns, they were a country group, brothers and sisters. They had a hit called 'Little Jimmy Brown' and we have a picture at home of them celebrating their father and mother's wedding anniversary and around the table was Hank Snow, Junior, Floyd Cramer, this was a whole musical group. He hung out with them then.
Later on, it was different, but when he first started out he liked to hang out with those guys -Jimmy Horton and those guys. We'd go out to dinner after the show, but later on he kinda stayed by himself.
Was there a time when you thought that Elvis made a conscious decision that he couldn't go out any more, he could no longer go to the local hamburger place, to shop, to do anything that normal ordinary people have the opportunity to do.
Did it come all at once, or was there a gradual learning that there were going to be problems?
Red West: I think it was gradual. When he started making the movies it became even more evident, became more of a visual thing that people would come around to see him, and that's when it really started that he couldn't even go out the gate and we'd go the back way out, jump over the fence, whatever, but when the movies started after Love Me Tender it became pretty hard to go out in public.
Do you think that you personally wouldn't have gotten into the movie industry had it not been for knowing Elvis Presley, being associated with Elvis, or was that a way in your life that you personally wanted to go?
Red West: That's what I always wanted to do, but no, I would never have made it without knowing him because the people I met with him were the ones who helped me get into it when I came back early from Germany and went directly to Hollywood. It's what I always wanted to do but knowing him opened doors that would never have been open, so Nick Adams did a series called 'The Rebel'.
He was a friend of Elvis' and I went to Hollywood and met him.
He helped me get into the first door and then Robert Conrad who did 'Hawaiian Eye' and 'Wild Wild West', we played football every Sunday when Elvis got back and all those people would come out, Pat Boone I met these people and ended up working with them so, no, everything I got I owe to Elvis.
That really is a statement to make isn't it.
Red West: Yeah, it was real, it's true.
Did you have to have any drama coaching of any kind, or did it come naturally?
Red West: No, I studied acting with a guy who's still around, Jeff Corey, an old character actor. And Robert Blake I think studied with him, Jack Nicholson studied with him. No you don't just go out and start acting. Elvis could have been, I think, a tremendous actor if he had had the chance to study first instead of being thrown right into it. Anybody who wants to be an actor, you study acting first. You don't just step in front of a camera, you'll forget your name which I did!
Did you enjoy the films, the films that Elvis did?
Red West: Yes, I enjoyed the first ones. Blue Hawaii, GI Blues, Flaming Star especially, I could count on one hand the ones that were good and the rest of them were things that were thrown at him with no thought of anything other than making a buck. Forget the songs were bad, the scripts were bad, but for those of you who saw Wild in the Country and those movies I just mentioned, he had the ability if he had some training, and also he could have done better in the others.
Elvis signs autographs for fans after leaving the luncheon at the Holiday Inn Rivermont on January 16, 1971 where he was honored by the Jaycees as one of the Outstanding Young Men In America.
He just kinda breezed through the others to get them out of the way because there was nothing to them as far as he was concerned. I mean, Wild in the Country was some of the best acting without a doubt he ever did, and the one in New Orleans - King Creole - those were two.
King Creole was written for James Dean and they changed the name, of course James Dean was killed and Elvis got the part. But that was a heavy, dramatic acting part for him and I think he did it very well, but then he lost interest as the movies went by.
I guess when the British invasion first started to penetrate the charts in the States, Elvis at that time, and you all at that time, must have taken a step back and said to yourselves what's happening here, we need to reassert our place in the marketplace because all these limeys are coming over and taking our money.
Red West: No, Elvis always said there's room for everybody. He was never threatened, in fact when he had his home in Bel Air, and I guess everybody knows about when the Beatles came to his house.
It was one of the best, fun times we ever had. We just sat around. Ringo, myself and my cousin played pool. Ringo was kind of a loner, the rest of them and Elvis sat and chit-chatted all night and had a ball. The only thing, when he was in the Army, he felt like his hands were tied and everybody was doing their thing when he was in the Army but he said I've got this to do, and then I hope they'll remember me when I get out, but he never wished anybody any bad luck or anything like that. Maybe you've heard he did, but don't believe it.
I guess when Elvis was in the movie studios, your duties of being a protector, looking over your shoulder, were less of a problem once Elvis went back into live entertainment. Initially it was a relatively easy place I think to protect, but once on tour, it must have been a nightmare.
Red West: The tours and the personal appearances we were on guard, but in the movies, we were doing the movies with him. I was in every fight scene, either doubling him or fighting with him or doubling for somebody else. That was fun, we didn't worry about anything then, maybe to and from the studio, but not too much. We were all involved in the movies and having a ball.
But I guess whilst you're in greater Los Angeles, driving round Beverly Hills and so forth, it's not that unusual even these days to see famous people driving in the back of limousines, so the fact that Elvis was driving in Bel Air really wouldn't have made that much difference to people, or would it, or did it?
Red West: No, although there was always somebody that was at the gate all night waiting for him to come out and they'd jump in their car and follow us, but that was just people who loved him and no real problem there.
Did he get up to anything that you don't want to talk about? Did you have a secret thing that you all would go and do which nobody really knew you were doing, and I'm not talking about the other thing, I'm talking about the normal. (RW - what other thing??). How did you escape from it all basically?
Red West: We just don't talk about it. I don't really know how to answer that. He did have a crap table in his house that people weren't supposed to know about that we shot craps and gambled a little bit.
No, there was nothing really unusual.
Did you visit or go fishing, or was there any way you were able to escape where no-one would see you. That's the point I'm making.
Red West: No. The only time we went fishing was early in his career. He used to love going to. We went out on this boat - his cousins, his girlfriend and whatever, and that was fun. We fished, I remember I caught a shark, he caught a bunch of these benita, whatever. But that was in the early days, that was the late 50s - 54/55
There's some charming film footage of Elvis going to. Did you accompany him when he did that?
Red West: No. I think I was in the Marine Corps then. That had to be in 56/57 when he was doing his first movie. I miss that, I miss those days because that had to be - his cousin Gene was with him - and the first time in Hollywood had to be an experience, I wished I could have seen that, but I'd gone into the Marine Corps.
Did you feel you missed out by not being there?
Red West: No, I think things worked out the way they were supposed to for me. Yeah, I missed that initial changeover from Memphis to movies, I missed the first two, and I wish I could've been there because I've seen pictures, that was really some crazy times for Elvis because he was young and all this thrown at him, and he handled it pretty well, but I heard there were some pretty wild times in those first couple of movies.
Going on to Las Vegas because I think there's the three schools of fans - the fans that like the 50s, the fans that do like the movies, but the songs to us all here have their own magic. But I guess it's easier to relate to Elvis in the 70s which of course was a combination of very happy times, with Elvis' success at getting back into live entertainment, and very sad times. I mean, I always remember at one of these early sessions several years ago there was a guy at the back who stood up and he said, 'I would never believe that Elvis Presley would ever take drugs, and that bastard that prescribed them should have been shot'. We all have a tendency of, from time to time, putting on those rose-colored glasses, but was it for Elvis,was the majority of his lifetime a happy experience?
Red West: Yes. That's what I was saying earlier. I want to remember the good times because they were exceptionally good. He was like a brother, he was closer to me than my own brothers, we grew together from high school to a year, a couple of years before his death. There were many, many good times. Like I said, we used to go to Biloxi, go fishing, we had these wild fireworks fights at night, on the golf course, the crazy things we did on the road, we had a certain little game we would play to break the boredom. We'd drive along the countryside, we'd be going over a bridge. We had this little thing where somebody was talking about something they thought was really important, you'd tap them on the head, they were supposed to like change the channel, go to completely something different. You'd say, 'I thought the thing we did ...', you'd tap his head, he'd say 'Oh, to hell with it ..', take his shoes off and throw them out the window into the river!! Things like that, stupid little things just to break the monotony, but they were fun, they were crazy.
Bill Black was one of the craziest guys I ever met, you know, the bass player. We had some good times on the road in those early days and they far overshadow the bad times, although the bad times were bad, but we had too many good times to dwell on that. It's just something that happened. Now we're talking about it, like me, I'm dying for a cigarette right now!!! I have a brother who's addicted to gambling. I might as well get into this now and tell you. People have come up to me and said, 'Why the hell didn't you do something to stop it'. They don't know that I did try. They didn't know I got fired because I tried, but his step-brothers and a member of one of the singing groups were bringing these things to him. When I found out about it I kicked the door in, I stomped the guy's foot and broke his foot, said 'You keep bringing them I'm just gonna work my way up'. Elvis of course found out about it and I was gone. I'd been with him since junior high school, but the drugs took over in the end and I can understand it in a way because he had no privacy, he was bored with his life. Let me go through the thing here. He started out great doing personal appearances, then he went into the movies, the movies got to be a drag because of what we've been talking about - the songs were terrible, the scripts were terrible. So he went to Vegas instead of working maybe 5 nights a week and 2 nights off or 6 nights and 1 night off for a couple of weeks, like Frank Sinatra and everybody else did, he worked for 4 weeks for 7 nights a week, 2 shows a night. The Colonel was downstairs gambling enjoying himself. So, this got to be .. OK I want to go back on the road, I want out of this. The movies got to be a drag, this is getting to be a drag, I want to get back in front of the audience around the country, the world. The Colonel started booking him into the same towns. Each tour we'd hit Roanoke, Virginia, we'd hit so-and so and so-and-so, Atlanta, Georgia. He wanted to come here. He wanted to go to Australia, he wanted to go to Germany, he wanted to go anywhere but Roanoke, Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia, but no, and why the Colonel did that? I asked the Colonel why can't we tour Europe. Why can't we go to Australia. Can't handle security, can't handle security. We didn't know he was an illegal alien and he could not go outside the US. I wondered why he never came to Germany while we were there. He always sent other people there. He never left the USA, once he got there he never left, and that hurt Elvis. If Elvis could have gotten out and seen you people and entertained you and everybody else, it could've been different, but he was a prisoner of his own success and let's just say the Colonel got him where he was, but he also put him where he is.
A release from RCA, the album 'Private Elvis' and I know that most of the tapes, if not all of them, were supplied by you to Ernst Jorgensen. Is there more material, or does he now have it all?
Red West: I don't believe so, unless there's something up in my attic - I've got a couple of tapes up there that I need to listen to - but I don't think there's anything else out there at all. I think these Home Recordings was the end of it. I can't think of anything else laying around that they can come out with.
You, during your lifetime, have worked with an awful lot of stars. A lot of stars.
Who's the best, who was the most fun to be with?
Red West: Elvis. He was the most fun to be with. I worked with John Wayne in 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance', Lee Marvin, James Stewart, I've worked with a lot of people. Robert Conrad, we had a lot of fun, he was crazy, still is! I worked on 'Wild Wild West' as a stuntman, broke every bone in my body, then was fortunate enough to get the co-starring role in 'Black Sheep Squadron'. I don't know if you ever saw that show over here or not, about Pepe Borington, the World War 2 ace. I would have to say Elvis was the most fun because anything went with him. We did things on the set that drove directors crazy, like one time for instance he was in there getting his hair all slicked back, took 30 minutes to get that hair in place, I was up in the rafters. This was at Universal. We were on the old 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' set. I was up in the cat-walk with a water balloon. After the make-up man did all his hair he stepped out, took about 2 steps and I dropped this water balloon. It hit right in his hair, and his hair of course went right down the side of his face, he didn't even look up! He just turned around and went back into the trailer and started over.
Another thing on that same set, Charlie Hodge - somebody had thrown water on him. He took his shirt off, they had a big fan there for circulation, a big floor fan. He hung his shirt on this fan to dry out, then walked away and got another shirt, but every once in a while he'd come back to check if it was dry. But while he was gone we just poured more water on it! All day!
Alan Fortas, when we were doing King Creole, Alan was always pulling jokes on everybody else, so we got him with one. We said, 'Alan, you gonna do a line today, you're gonna be an actor', go to make-up. So he went to make-up, they made him up, they put the make-up on, they put this little tissue on his shirt so he wouldn't get make-up on his shirt. We said 'You sit here, and don't take that tissue out or you'll mess your shirt up'. So he sat there all morning, we gave him some line, made sure he had this line memorised, so he sat there doing this line with this tissue on his shirt. Lunch came, we're getting close, we're going to break for lunch now. After lunch I think that might be the first shot. And after lunch they always touched up your make-up because you might have gotten some chicken grease on your mouth or whatever.
So, they retouched his make-up, said keep the kleenex in, he sat there all afternoon doing his line, waiting on his little line. At the end of the day, the first assistant came over and said 'Alan, we've run out of time, we're gonna have to do this tomorrow'. You guy's been putting me on he said, and everybody had a good laugh at that! We were always doing things like that.
There is of course that famous story about you all going into the showroom of the Hilton and painting the cherubs black. Now everybody knows the story, but the question I would like to know is where did you get the paint, because paint shops in Las Vegas aren't that easy to come by?
Red West: The back of the stage had this very tall mesh wire thing. Behind that was all the stuff for the stage, paint, whatever. So we were backstage after the show was over, the showroom was empty and Elvis said, ' I want to paint those black'. So I took my shoes off and I climbed over, and this thing had to be 20 feet tall! I went over, down the other side, got the paint, hooked it on to my belt, came back over, put my shoes on and we went and painted them black. And the next night nobody seemed to notice it, and he said 'I want you to notice what we done last night to change the showroom and to acknowledge my back-up group, the Sweet Inspirations. Everything is white. No longer. Look. The spotlight went over to these black faces and the Sweet Inspirations were falling about! That's how that came about.
Did you do these things out of boredom or was it just to be plain stupid?
Red West: We were mischievous, even in our later years. I was always thinking of crazy things to do, that was his idea, and it was just to break the boredom but also to have a good time and probably shock the people at the Hilton. I mean who'd dare do something like that. But they left it alone, it was there for a long time before they changed it. In fact, the last time I went back I looked to see if it was there. It's been changed, but that was fun, every night we'd go out on stage and look and it was still there.
Did he want ever to change his music? He never thought that he wanted to become more of a gospel act?
Red West: No, we were in the audience watching Bobby Darin once. Bobby Darin, if you're familiar with Bobby Darin, started out with 'Splish Splash' then he got into Frank Sinatra, started sounding a lot like Frank Sinatra. We were in the audience one night and he did 'Splish Splash', stopped in the middle of it, and said that was another time, then he started on one of his later hits that sounded like Frank Sinatra. Elvis yelled out, 'Don't knock what got you there'. And he stopped, he knew who it was, and he said 'You know what, you're right' and that's what he felt, you know, Bobby Darin made the changeover from 'Splish Splash' to Frank Sinatra type songs. Elvis was so embarrassed when he did that show with Frank Sinatra after he got out the Army. He was singing one of Frank Sinatra's songs and Frank Sinatra was singing one of his. That was the most horrific, embarrassed he ever was because that was not his type of song.
Did you and Elvis sneak into many shows in Vegas?
Red West: We sneaked into a lot of them, yeah. That's what he did before, see we were there a week early to rehearse then we'd go through the 4 weeks of hell, then we'd stay for the week after to unwind, and he went to (shows), especially Tom Jones, he would go to as many shows as he could, Andy Williams. We were talking earlier about him socialising with people. He did. He would always invite Tom Jones over and the quartet was always up there, and after doing a show for an hour and a half or whatever he would go upstairs and Tom Jones would come over and Elvis and the group would sing. Tom Jones maybe joined in a couple of times but Andy Williams, people like that, he liked to invite them over and stay up, so that's what we did after the show. Elvis was always singing, he loved to have the gospel quartet up there and the Sweet Inspirations and they would sing gospel songs, whatever, and just have a good time.
Were there lots of girls?
Red West: There was hundreds of girls, in fact my wife one time was there and I took her up to see him. I mean, that's what he wanted. He wanted an audience of just people to talk, he had his religious quotes and he liked to talk to all these people. Of course he would be looking through the crowd and seeing how they look, but that was the norm after the show to unwind, he wanted a lot of people up in the suite and there always were a lot of people up there.
What was Elvis' mother like?
Red West: His mother was an angel. He loved his mother, she loved him, she worried herself sick about him, she didn't take any crap off anybody and she was a very strong-willed woman and I miss her.
The last time I saw her I was in the Marine Corps. I was home on leave. Elvis was making King Creole and I went by Graceland to see her and Vernon and they called Elvis. They said Elvis wants you to fly out and then ride the train back to New Orleans.
Elvis wouldn't fly in those days and they were finishing up in Hollywood, and then we got a ride in the train to New Orleans. I had a week's furlough and the last thing his mother said to me was, 'You take care of Elvis', and I took that seriously for the rest of my life.
Do you think Elvis needed the 68 Comeback to get back on the hit trail again?
Red West: He was wondering, after all the movies, he was a little unsure of himself and that's exactly what that was for, to see if he still had it. The thing the Colonel had for him would have destroyed him.
He wanted him to come out and do a bunch of Christmas songs! And Elvis said to hell with that, I'm doing this, so that was his 'testing the waters'.
You say you became as close as brothers, did you ever have a fight with Elvis?
Red West: Never. Never. Like I just said, his mother said take care of him, don't hurt him.
There were three times that I came very close, but he would've had to almost pull a gun or a knife on me before I would hit him. No, I would do that.
Did Elvis ever want to meet Marilyn Monroe when he had the chance, and are there any photographs anywhere that you know of?
Red West: Yes, he did want to meet Marilyn Monroe but she was busy. It never happened.
Did Elvis have anyone to confide in other than those who were on the payroll or depended on him financially?
Red West: No.
When you wrote the book discrediting Elvis and he died a few weeks later, did you feel any responsibility for his death?
Red West: No, I did not feel any responsibility because Elvis was dead once before but we found him just in time. I knew it was coming and that was one of the main reasons I wrote the book because, like I said earlier, I tried to stop what was going on while I was with him and that didn't work, so we wrote this book to just put right in his face what was going on and it still didn't do any good, but it was a coincidence, I grant you that, but I know what kind of shape he was in.
You people don't know what kind of shape he was in. I knew and everybody that was with him knew if we hadn't been there a couple of times before he would have been gone, and we were trying to open up his eyes and, like you said, there was no place to put him and we couldn't put him into hospital, the only person who could put him there was his father and that didn't happen. So he was just kinda out there, helpless.
When was the last time you spoke to Elvis and was it on good terms?
Red West: Last time I spoke to Elvis was when he called me, when he knew the book was being written. In fact that conversation was in the book, and he called me to see how I was doing. I think he was a little nervous about what was in the book. We had a long conversation. That was the last time I spoke to him.
Could you have done it differently?
Red West: Yeah, I could've lied a lot but everything in that book is the truth. I don't know if you read the book, but did anybody see the good things in that book? 90 percent of that book was the positive things but you've got to cover it all. One thing about these other books, they're a bunch of bullshit!
Where were you when Elvis died?
Red West: I was in the middle of an episode of 'Black Sheep Squadron' called the 200 Pound Gorilla. It was about me, I was filming with Robert Conrad and the stunt coordinator - we were rehearsing a scene, it was early in the morning, and Chuck came running in and said 'Man I think I just heard something on the radio about Elvis dying'. Well, Robert Conrad had become friends with Elvis, and we talked many times about what had transpired. It's the only time I know of a show shutting down. Nothing shuts down a movie or TV show, the show must go on, well that show shut down that day. My wife and my two sons came over crying, and we weren't worth a damn the rest of that day or the rest of that episode, but I remember it well.
Did Elvis ever consider writing songs with you, Red?
Red West: He would give me titles. He gave me the title 'That's Someone You Never Forget'. I think he sat down once. Charlie, he and I sat down and tried to write something but he couldn't stay still long enough. He would give me a title and say go write it, so that's how that happened.
You were saying earlier that you've always considered yourself as one of Elvis' closest friends. This is a sort of two-part question. If that were the case, I think had it been one of my friends I wouldn't have felt that I wanted to write a book like that and make it public, and also I think you've been quoted as saying that you did it to help Elvis and make him aware. If that is the case, if you just did it to help him, would it be fair to say that any money made from the book you donated to charity?
Red West: I agree with you myself but I was broke. No, I wrote it for money. Is that what you want to hear? I wrote it for money and to try to help him. You're gonna dwell on this goddam thing? I'm sorry you feel that way but I loved the man very much. You don't know what I went through trying to keep him away from this. Yes, you got your opinion about me writing the book. OK, I've told you my side of it and you can't accept that, then I'm sorry, but yeah I wrote the book to try to save him and I wrote it to make money.
Is it true Elvis carried a gun everywhere and have you any stories to tell about that?
Red West: Yes. We all did. After we'd all been deputised in Denver, in Las Vegas and Memphis. We had security investigations of our past. We were all armed and dangerous.
Of all the pranks that Elvis pulled on members of the Memphis Mafia, what do you consider to be the funniest?
Red West: OK. This is one of the things we did to break the boredom in Las Vegas and this was in the book, one of the good times. We had these threats and they had come and gone, so we didn't have anything to do, we were going to pull something on the Stamps Quartet. Elvis, Sonny and myself got together and said lets pull one on the Stamps, let's tell them that we've had another threat, go through this, this, this... OK, so that's what we did. First we got the real security guards from the hotel to empty their guns, afterwards we thought what if somebody had really tried something that night. But anyway, down in the dressing room after the show we got the Stamps and said, 'Hey fellas, now this is serious, we got another threat tonight so I want you to take the elevator, go up to the 30th floor, get out of the elevator, walk through a hall into the suite'.
So, all the way there, Sonny and I are priming these guys, 'Man, be on your toes for this sound'. Bad. They were nervous wrecks all along the way to the elevator, we went upstairs, we went into the suite and there was a way around to the front of the suite and there was a way around to the back through the dining-room, down into the living-room. I went in with them, closed the door, Sonny fell back and went around the other side. As soon as we got in the suite I said, 'OK, looks like we're OK'. Then all of a sudden Sonny shouted 'Son of a bitch', boom ... we put blanks in our pistols. JD Sumner knocked Elvis down and laid on top of him, Donnie Sumner jumped over the bar, hit his knee on the top of the bar and almost broke his legs. He was hiding behind the bar. I went running up these three steps, fired a couple of shots, Sonny fired a shot. I grabbed my stomach and said, 'Oh, I'm hit' and I fell down these steps.
All the guards that followed had been shot, all these shots going off, all these guards were 'dead'. One of the Stamps was underneath the table, he was very religious and he was praying! And the other one, the wild man of the group says 'Give me a gun, give me a gun'. He went over and actually grabbed one of these 'dead' guard's guns. 'The son of a bitch is empty'. By that time, Sonny stuck his arm around Elvis (who was still on the floor with JD Sumner on top of him) and all Donnie Sumner could see from behind this bar was this hand with a gun. He picked up a big tomato juice can and threw it, it missed Sonny's hand and Sonny turned around and he said 'Son of a ..' and fell about (laughing). That's the sort of things we did to amuse ourselves.
Red West Remembers Writing For The King
Elvis Presley and Red West in Germany
Elvis at Red West's Wedding
© Copyright 2023 by www.elvis.com.au & www.elvispresley.com.au
No part of any article on this site may be re-printed for public display without permission.
Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD
Never before have we seen an Elvis Presley concert from the 1950's with sound. Until Now! The DVD Contains recently discovered unreleased film of Elvis performing 6 songs, including Heartbreak Hotel and Don't Be Cruel, live in Tupelo Mississippi 1956. Included we see a live performance of the elusive Long Tall Sally seen here for the first time ever. + Plus Bonus DVD Audio.
This is an excellent release no fan should be without it.
The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. Highly recommended.
Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound.